Picture Credit: BCCI
Delhi Capitals secured the toss and chose to field against Lucknow Super Giants in the fifth fixture of the Indian Premier League 2026 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
After the toss, Delhi captain Axar Patel explained the reasoning behind the decision, saying, “We will bowl first. First game, red soil, so we want to see how the pitch plays. Obviously, the data is there that the second team wins more. The tournament is starting, we want to see how our bowling goes, and that’s what we wanted to bowl. Last season, we started well, but we failed to qualify because of one match in the middle. We want to start well again, hope to see it go then.”
On the overseas selections, he added, “Three batters and a bowler. David Miller, Pathum Nissanka, Tristan Stubbs, and Lungi Ngidi.”
Rishabh Pant, who leads Lucknow Super Giants, offered his thoughts on the pitch and team mindset.
“I think it doesn’t matter in a wicket like this. It’s always good to have what you want. The wicket won’t change much apart from the dew. I think it’s a completely new energy for sure. We have changed our colour, logo, and definitely our mindset over the last year,” Pant said.
“We are feeling good, and I think that’s the only thing I am going to say. I am feeling good and ready to roar. Well, definitely we have to improve from what we did last season. We need to look into the injuries as well. As a captain, you can’t look into those things too much. The bowlers are really fit and waiting to just go out there and make an impact,” he further added.
Delhi Capitals: Pathum Nissanka, KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Rana, Axar Patel (c), David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Lungi Ngidi, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav
Impact Substitutes: Sameer Rizvi, Karun Nair, Ashutosh Sharma, Dushmantha Chameera, Auqib Nabi
Lucknow Super Giants: Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (c and wk), Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Mohsin Khan, Mohammed Shami, Prince Yadav, Anrich Nortje
Impact Substitutes: Digvesh Singh Rathi, Avesh Khan, Himmat Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Akshat Raghuwanshi
Both sides will be eager to open their campaign positively, with the Delhi Capitals relying on their bowling strength, while the Lucknow Super Giants aim to take advantage of familiar home conditions.
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